Hope Talk
希望講堂
Edge of Taiwan, Hakka punk from the Mountain City
臺灣的邊緣，客家山城的龐克
Aug 24
8月24日
2:00pm - 3:00pm
About the Program
The Taiwan you know may be an island of night markets, bubble tea, and advanced technology. But on the edge of the island, there is a mountain town called Miaoli, where a group of simple and conservative people speak in Hakka.
TRAEGO is a Hakka punk band from Miaoli, and the first punk band in Taiwan to sing in Hakka. Their debut album Pure Filth captures the dissatisfaction of today’s youths with life, their love for the land, and their rants against the absurdity of society. In this talk, they will talk about language, culture, anger, and how Hakka Punk speaks up from beyond the mainstream!
Vocalist Allen Lai is the keynote speaker. In addition to composing, Lai's job at the Hakka radio station in Taiwan exposed him to Hakka music and Hakka dialects. It was this experience that gave him the idea of creating a new generation of narrative styles within the punk genre.
Traego（粹垢）is homophonic to the Hakka phrase coiˊgo（衰過）, which means “pitiful.”
To extend the meanings of the two Chinese characters combined can also be interpreted as “pure filth,” representing our cynical punk rock spirit and reflecting the world’s prevarication using our most sincere words.
From the Curating Team
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TAIWANfest Toronto is grateful to be held on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, that is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. We acknowledge our privilege to be gathered here, and commit to work with and be respectful to the Indigenous peoples of this land while we engage in meaningful conversations of culture and reconciliation.